Bobbin doffing mechanism



April 6, 1965 J. w. DUBOIS ETAL BOBBIN DOFFING MECHANIS Filed Nov 13, 1962 INVENTOR JOSEPH W DLJBOIS JOHN A. CLJG-INI A TTORNE Y United States Patent "ice 3,176,458 BOBBIN DOFFING MECHANISM Joseph W. Dubois, North Smithfield, KL, and John A.

Cugini, Hopedale, Mass., assignors to Draper Corporation, Hopedale, Mass., a corporation of Maine Filed Nov. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 237,273 4 Claims. (Cl. 57-53) The present invention relates to a mechanism for removing full bobbins from spindles of spinning frames, twisters, or the like and, particularly, to an improved cam means for raising the bobbins to be doffed on said spindles.

It is a general object of the invention to provide novel bobbin raising cam means that is effective in eliminating misses during the clotting cycle and the resulting jamming of the dofling mechanism from such misses.

It is a further object of the invention to provide bobbin raising cam means that is capable of raising each bobbin being dotted to a point on its respective spindle where the remaining forces of lift will act upon the butt portions thereof in substantially the same plane as the center line of the axes of said bobbins.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following more detailed disclosure.

The present invention is applicable to a dofling and donning machine such as that disclosed in patent applica tion Serial No. 152,407, filed November 15, 1961, now Patent No. 3,07 7,725, and since this patent may be referred to for a more detailed description of such a machine, it is considered unnecessary at this point to insert herein the details of the general aspects of construction and operation of this unit.

The dofiing mechanism to which the present invention is applicable comprises a carriage with a means for mounting the same on machines such as spinning frames, twisters, or the like which support a row of spindles that are utilized during the processing of textile yarns. This carriage is adapted to move on such machines along a path parallel to the spindles and to raise and remove the bobbins carried thereon.

Themeans employed for doffing full bobbins, disclosed in the above-mentioned application, includes a drive breaking cam and a flexible inclined lifting guide member both of which are carried by the carriage. The drive breaking cam is adapted to move beneath and to contact the butts of the bobbins to break the hold between the latter and the spindles. The flexible inclined lifting guide member, which is yieldably urged into engagement with the spindles and which is caused to serpentine about the latter as the carriage is in motion, is. designed to guide the bobbins upwardly from the breaking cam and off the spindles where by a further guide means, they are guided into a receptacle carried by said carriage. Experience has shown that this manner of doffing has not functioned with complete satisfaction, in that a bobbin when leaving the breaking cam to be guided upwardly by the lifting guide member, has on numerous occasions cammed itself between the yieldable lifting guide member and its respective spindle creating a miss and a jamming condition that must be corrected before further dofling can continue. The lower portion of the flexible lifting guide is directed inwardly away from the spindles and the butt portion of a bobbin, when leaving the breaking cam, contacts the lifting guide very close to the outermost edge of said butt. This condition is more prevalent on bobbins whose butt portions are slightly rounded from wear, for this rounded portion will contact the yieldable lifting guide and together with the movement of the carriage the bobbin will commence to turn forming a natural camming condition which forces the bobbin between said lifting guide and its respective spindle.

3,176,458 Patented Apr. 6, 1965 According to the invention, the undesirable condition described above has now been eliminated through use of applicants novel unitary dual camming member. This cam forms an integral part of the drive breaking cam and is formed in such a manner as to place it at a greater inclination to the horizontal than said drive breaking cam.

The bobbins after being loosened by the breaking cam are caused to move upwardly on their respective spindles to a point which places the butt portion of the bobbin in contact with the serpentined portion of the flexible lifting guide which presses inwardly between the spindles, thereby causing the remaining forces of lift to be placed substantially in the same plane as the center line of the axes of said bobbins. The bobbins are then guided upwardly until free from their respective spindles at which time they are guided by a further means into a chute which directs them into a receptacle supported by the carriage.

The invention will be described in further detail in the following disclosure wherein reference is made to the accompanying figures of drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the dofling mechanism moves along a path parallel to the spindles to raise and guide the bobbins therefrom and looking outwardly from the frame interior; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 but in front elevation showing the invention applied thereto and the means utilized for raising the bobbins.

Now referring to the figures of drawing, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a portion of a spinning frame with which the dofling mechanism is caused to cooperate having a ring rail 10, a plurality of spinning rings 11 and an equal number of spindles 12 which are supported below and which extend upwardly through said ring rail and spinning rings. A plurality of bobbins 13 are supported by the spindles 12 and after being fully wound in a manner well known to those conversant in the art, a doffing mechanism generally indicated by numeral 14 and supported by a carriage C (partially shown), is attached to the spinning frame and caused to be moved in the direction of the indicating arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2 along a path parallel to therow of spindles 12, lifting in succession each bobbin 13 from its respective spindle 12.

The doifing mechanism 14 includes two principal doffing units, the first, a combined drive breaking cam and a bobbin raising cam generally indicated by numeral 15, and the second, a flexible inclined lifting guide member 16-.

The drive breaking cam 17 is adapted to move beneath and to contact the butt portion of each bobbin 13 to break the hold between said bobbin and its respective spindle. Continued movement causes the bobbin to be elevated by the bobbin raising cam 18 (FIG. 2). After having reached the limit of its upward travel on the raising cam 18, the butt of the bobbin comes in contact with the flexible inclined lifting guide member 16 as at 19 in FIG. 2. Member 16 is yieldably urged into engagement with the spindles by a spring member 16" of the type shown and described in US. Patent No. 3,077,725, and as the supporting carriage of the dofling mechanism 14- moves along the path parallel to said spindles, the upper edge 16' of said member 16 is caused to serpentine about or, in other words, to be forced inwardly between the spindles with which it makes contact. The butt portions of the bobbins being in contact with the serpentined portion of member 16 are caused to be raised from their respective spindles by a lifting force that is in a plane substantially that of the center line of the axes of said bobbins.

In operation, the dofiing mechanism is attached to a spinning frame, twister, or the like and is caused to be manually advanced along a path parallel to a row of spindles that are supporting an equal number'of wound. a

' plane as the center line of'the axes of said bobbins.

bobbins thereon. As the mechanism advances,rthe drive breaking cam moves beneath and contacts the butt por-v 1 tion of the bobbin breaking the hold between the spindle and said bobbin. Further movement causes the loosened bobbin to ride up the bobbin raising cam to a point Where the butt portion of said bobbin makes contact with the flexible inclined lifting guide which lifts the bobbinclear forces of lift to be concentrated substantially in the same spindles, said carriage including a bobbin'dofling means of its spindle and by a further guide means, directs each bobbin in succession as his defied into a rece'ptacle supported by the carriage of the doifing unit. o

While one embodiment of the invention has been .dis-

closed, it is to be understood that the inventive concept may be carried out in a number 'of Ways. This invention is, therefore, not tobe limited to the precise details described, but is intended to embrace all variations and modifications thereof falling within-the spirit of the im vention and the scope of the claims.

We claim: 7 I r 1. A dofling mechanism adapted to remove bobbins from a row of spindles supported on a machine compris ing a carriage with means for mounting the latter on said 7' machine to move alonga path parallel tosaid spindles,

said dofiing mechanism including two'principal dofling units, the first, a combined ,drive breaking'cam and a bobbin raisingcam, and the second, a flexible inclined having two'principal dotting units, the first comprising a combined drive breaking cam and bobbin raising cam, and the second, a flexible inclined lifting guide member adapted to engage the bottom of the bobbin at a point substantially in the same plane asv the centerline axes thereof, said lifting guide member being yieldably urged into engagement with said spindles by a resilient means adapted to' serpentine the same therearound as said lifting guide moves past the spindles to apply a lifting force to raise. said bobbins upwardly andelear of said spindles, and a further guide means for directing said bobbins into 'a receptacle carried by said machine afterbeing doffed from said spindles. r

4. A dofiing machanism adapted to remove bobbins from a row of spindles supported on a machine compris- "ing, a carriage with means for mounting the latter on said machine to move alonga path-parallel to said spindles, said doffing mechanism including two principal f dofiing unitscontiguously positioned, the first comprising lifting guide member yieldably urged into engagement with said spindles and adapted to serpentine the same therearound as said guide member 'moves past said spindles, said first dofiing unit including a first camming surface at an inclination to the horizontal and a second camming surface contiguous with and at a, greater in clination to the horizontal and assecond camming surface contiguous with and at a greater inclination than said first camming surface, said second dofiing unit including a further 'camming surface at aninclination greater than those of said first dofling'unit, a j p 2. A doffing mechanism adapted to remove bobbin's from a row of spindles supported on a'machine comprising a carriage with means for mounting therlatter on' said machine to'movesalong' a'path parallel to said spindles,

said dofling mechanism including two principal doifing units, the first, a combined jdrive 'breakingcam and a bobbin raising cam, and the second, a flexible inclined lifting guide member yieldably urged into "engagement with said spindles by a resilient means adapted to serpentine the same therearound as said' carriage moves past said spindles, said first dofiing unit being adapted to loosen and raise the bobbins on said spindles a distancev sufficient to place the butt portions thereof in contact: with a point on said second dofiing unit to permit the 7 5O 7, V M'ERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

a combined drive breaking cam and a bobbin raising cam, and the second, a flexible inclined lifting guide member yieldably urged into engagement .with said spindles adapted to serpentine the same-therearound while moving past said spindles; said drive breaking cam being at an inclination to the horizontal and adapted to move beneath and 'to contact the butts of the bobbins breaking the'hold "between the latter and saidspindles, said bobbin raising ,carn beingiintegral with and at an increased inclination to raise said bobbins to a point placing the, butts thereof in contact with the serpentined portion of said lifting guide to place the forces of lift substantially in the same 7 7 plane as the center line of the axes of said bobbins.

References Cited by therExaminer I 4 v UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Y-EOREIGN PATENTS 585,377 11/ 58 ItalyL f 

1. A DOFFING MECHANISM ADAPTED TO REMOVE BOBBINS FROM A ROW OF SPINDLES SUPPORTED ON A MACHINE COMPRISING A CARRIAGE WITH MEANS FOR MOUNTING THE LATTER ON SAID MACHINE TO MOVE ALONG A PATH PARALLEL TO SAID SPINDLES, SAID DOFFING MECHANISM INCLUDING TWO PRINCIPAL DOFFING UNITS, THE FIRST, A COMBINED DRIVE BREAKING CAM AND A BOBBIN RAISING CAM, AND THE SECOND, A FLEXIBLE INCLINED LIFTING GUIDE MEMBER YIELDABLY URGED INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SPINDLES AND ADAPTED TO SERPENTINE THE SAME THEREAROUND AS SAID GUIDE MEMBER MOVES PAST SAID SPINDLES, SAID FIRST DOFFING UNIT INCLUDING A FIRST CAMMING SURFACE AT AN INCLINATION TO THE HORIZONTAL AND A SECOND CAMMING SURFACE CONTIGUOUS WITH AND AT A GREATER SURFACE CLINATION TO THE HORIZONTAL AND A SECOND CAMMING SURFACE CONTIGUOUS WITH AND AT A GREATER INCLINATION THAN SAID FIRST CAMMING SURFACE, SAID SECOND DOFFING UNIT INCLUDING A FURTHER CAMMING SURFACE AT AN INCLINATION GREATER THAN THOSE OF SAID FIRST DOFFING UNIT. 